Book Review: Grace Untamed

Grace Untamed: A 60 Day Devotional. Edited by Elyse Fitzpatrick. 2016. [March] David C. Cook. 224 pages. [Source: Review copy]

Grace Untamed is a 60 day devotional published by David Cook. There are quite a handful of contributors to this collection of grace-focused devotions. Contributors include: Elyse Fitzpatrick, Scotty Smith, Paul David Tripp, Steve Brown, Bryan Chappell, David Zahl, Ray Ortlund, Matt Chandler, and J.D. Greear. The devotional entries seemed to be grouped by alternating authors. Three or four days by the same author, then switch it up.

I had never thought about grace being so varied a subject until I spent time reading this devotional. Grace is more than what God shows us in salvation. So much more. This book highlights salvation by grace alone, but, it also focuses on daily grace, every day grace, in-every-relationship grace. Because God has shown grace to us as believers, we should show grace to others--our family, our friends, our neighbors, our coworkers and bosses.

Devotional books can be a commitment. Especially if you're mainly familiar with year-long devotional books. That is one reason I like to see lesser-commitment options: 30 days, 40 days, 60 days, 90 days, etc. I would recommend this devotional book. I found it to be theologically sound--at least so far as I can recall! The contributors were great, I thought. I was familiar with about half of them, and a few were new-to-me.

Favorite quotes:

Please don't insult the perfect work of Jesus by thinking that everything He did was merely some sort of example. His behavior was a great example, we could find no better role model than Jesus. But Jesus did not come to simply be our role model. He came to be our Savior. And to be our Savior, He became our righteousness. He became our merit. ~ Elyse Fitzpatrick

Sin is self-obsessed, self-focused. Sin inserts me in the center of my world--the one place I must never be. Sin makes me full of myself. Sin makes it all about me. Sin makes me a vat of selfish thoughts and desires and wants. ~ Paul David Tripp

Jesus welcome into His kingdom only the people who have defied Him and offended Him and sinned so badly that their own righteousness is gone for good. They've lost their innocence, and now they've come to Him with nothing but need. They don't admire themselves anymore. They mourn over themselves. But Jesus is happy with them, and He wants them to know He's happy with them. He's happy with you, to the praise of the glory of His grace. ~ Ray Ortlund

© Becky Laney of Operation Actually Read Bible